Online tax bill is about collecting existing taxes

Regarding the Internet sales tax bill, letter-writer Alan Blakley says, “I can buy from my home or office and I pay no sales tax.” Actually, sales tax is already required. You are supposed to remit it. You may be hearing from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

This bill is not an “online taxes” bill. The bill is about how the tax is collected.

Joe Gregory, Castle Rock

This letter was published in the May 12 edition.

For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here. Follow eLetters on Twitter to receive updates about new letters to the editor when they’re posted.

I don’t – I thank people who are correct. See my reply to your other false statement below.

toohip

reality bites! Just like all gift and other tangible income is supposed to be reported on your taxes.

Guest

Online taxes are supposed to be remitted if the online seller is located (has a store) in Colorado. Joe is wrong. Here’s what it says on the Colorado Department of Revenue web site:

“If you are in Colorado and purchase goods over the Internet, you will owe sales tax on the purchase if buying from a seller that is also located in Colorado.”

The bill is not simply about “how the tax is collected.” It greatly expands how many retailers are subject to Colorado’s sales taxes.

ThePyro

Apparently you stop reading when you get to the bit you like. Two sentences after the one you cite is the following:

“If you are buying from a vendor not located in Colorado, you will probably not pay sales tax to the seller, but you must pay use tax directly to the State of Colorado.”

The information is correct as Joe states it.

Fowler

So if I go to Nebraska to buy a chair and pay sales and use tax in Nebraska, this means I also have to pay sales and use tax in Colorado when I bring it home? If not, how is that any different than buying it over the internet and paying to ship it here? The Seller in Nebraska has to pay the Nebraska tax, why should I have to pay a second tax here?

reinhold23

First, you left the realm of the online purchase with your hypothetical. But no, there is not double-dipping.

From the same Dept of Revenue page:

“Colorado state use tax is the same rate as the sales tax, 2.9 percent. With proof of payment, sales tax paid to another state may be credited against state use tax due in Colorado for a particular item. Use tax is also collected by some special districts.”

fowler

So if the out of state internet retailer pays sales tax to that state, I don’t have to pay the use tax in Colorado? I’m OK with that, but I understood the proposal to be that even if the internet retailer paid out of state sales tax, I still need to pay the sales/use tax in Colorado. That would certainly be double dipping. I suppose it depends on whether the sale is taxed in the seller’s state? I still have a problem taxing out of state sales in Colorado where the retailer does not have a physical presence, and does not use any public services, fire, police, water sewer, schools, etc. In theory that’s what the taxes go towards with brick and mortar stores in Colorado. Out of state sellers get none of those benefits and impose none of those brudens.

reinhold23

I’m a little confused by this line: “I understood the proposal to be that even if the
internet retailer paid out of state sales tax, I still need to pay the
sales/use tax in Colorado.”

Retailers *collect* sales tax and remit it to the state. I can think of no example of an Internet sale where the retailer collects for a state other that of the customer’s billing/shipping address.

ThePyro

First question – no. Nobody’s ever expected you to do that before, and nobody expects you to now. Taxes are paid right where you buy the item. Transaction done.

Second question – It’s different in that a great number of internet retailers don’t pay sales tax in their localities. Up until recently, only in those cases where the buyer and seller were in the same State – just like your brick-and-mortar example above – could the State attempt to collect taxes because the online version mirrored the brick-and-mortar version.

Third question – Your introductory clause is incorrect, making the question irrelevant. Most states, and specifically Nebraska if you go look at their Department of Revenue website, have no means of collecting taxes from their sellers. Therefore, they pay no taxes, and you aren’t being taxed twice for an online purchase.

goodspkr

Thanks for the information. I’m in favor of voting any of the legislature’s who voted that in be voted out. And right now, the only way Colorado can collect these “use” fees is to have the citizens pay it. In California they estimate they collect 1.4% of the total due.

But here’s an update “On March 30, 2012, in Direct Marketing Association v. Huber, No. 10-CV-01546-REB-CBS, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of a group of out-of-state retailers and permanently enjoined the enforcement of Colorado’s use tax notice and reporting requirements. In so doing, the Court determined that Colorado’s notice and reporting requirements violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

ThePyro

Oh, I am by no means saying it’s a good or constitutional law – or that it was ever really effective or enforceable. I thought it was laughable on its face when it was issued…let’s be honest – the majority of folks aren’t going to pay the tax, and the State doesn’t have the resources to make them.

I’m only pointing out that folks who think what the Feds are doing is some grand expansion of tax regulation or that they’re somehow going to be paying more than they would if they were at their local store haven’t really been paying attention.

peterpi

Your logic is too complex.
People buy through the Internet to avoid paying taxes, they think it’s their divine right to do so, and government be damned!

johnrpack

The bill is about allowing states to tax other states’ businesses. It’s a collosal mistake that will put our economy into a nose dive.

Yes, the tax laws already exist — but the Supreme Court has ruled that they exceed the authority of the state governments. ’nuff said. I bought a board game at a convention I attended last year in Pennsylvania. Should Colorado be able to tax me (in addition to PA sales tax) when I got home? I think we can all agree that that’s way beyond the authority Colorado’s state government should have.

Fowler

Finally someone who gets it. Thanks!

peterpi

You like “no Internet taxes”, because you like the idea of “no taxes”, period.
You want to buy something off the Internet from a store in Nebraska, and say to Nebraska, “I don’t live in Nebraska and I didn’t make the transaction in Nebraska, so don’t charge me no tax!” Then you want to say to Colorado “I paid a store in Nebraska! How dare you charge me tax!”

johnrpack

If the law passes, it will then go to the courts. The case will be that governments where the buyer has no vote should not have the power to tax me.

Note: Colorado HAS the power to tax every buyer at a Colorado business — even on the internet. That’s not what this law is about. Colorado doesn’t use that power because they know it would cripple our internet businesses. They only want to cripple the businesses in other states. (But they’re way out of their league — no one cripples business like NY.)

Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 150 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address, day and evening phone numbers, and may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.

To reach the Denver Post editorial page by phone: 303-954-1331

Recent Comments

peterpi: I think I have this correct: Voters in Jefferson County elected school board members that the superintendent...

peterpi: Sounds good to me. For future employees. I believe police and fire dept. brass have also been known to get...